Economic Summit Leaders Offer Growth Prescription

The leaders of major non-communist industrial nations today announced their prescription for economic growth, calling on Japan and West Germany to spend more money and the United States to spend less.

The leaders’ declaration on economic matters ended the 13th annual economic summit, where the United States and six other countries Tuesday affirmed the right of free navigation in the Persian Gulf, called for U.N. efforts to pursue an end to the Iran-Iraq War and declared a policy of no concessions to terrorists.

In addition to the economic declaration, the leaders, with representatives of the European Community, issued a statement today agreeing to promote international cooperation and intensify efforts to wipe out AIDS, but without encroaching on human rights.

Coordination Urged

The leaders agreed that the seven major democracies should work harder to coordinate their economic policies, using economic indicators as guideposts to determine when a country’s economy is getting out of line.

Without mentioning any country by name, the statement said “surplus countries”--clearly referring to Japan and West Germany--had promised to follow a course designed to boost their economies and thus give their citizens more money to buy foreign goods.

It also said “deficit countries”--most notably the United States, the world’s largest debtor nation--would try “to encourage steady low-inflation growth” while reducing government and trade deficits.

The leaders also:

--Reaffirmed a previous commitment to a concerted reform of agricultural policies, including “a progressive and concerted reduction of agricultural support.”

--Said they will use economic indicators as signposts to indicate when their nations are failing to fulfill their promises. The group did not identify which indicators would be used, but an agreement signed by the seven in February indicated that they would include such factors as exchange rates and trade deficits.

--Said lender countries should stretch out the loans given nations in sub-Saharan Africa, which rank among the world’s poorest countries.

--Declared that further substantial shifts in exchange rates would be bad. The dollar has fallen about 40% against the Japanese yen and the West German mark since September, 1985.

--Emphasized the importance of undertaking a strategy to overcome the drug problem.

Reagan Pleased

President Reagan said he was pleased by the results of the meeting with leaders of Japan, West Germany, France, Britain, Canada and Italy. “It has been a most fruitful summit,” he said.

Italy’s treasury minister, Giovanni Goria, said, “For the first time in my experience, there is a spirit of cooperation instead of fighting, negotiations and questions of national interest.”

The statement was the capstone of three days of discussions held in Venice, a majestic canal city guarded by 9,000 police.